A reader writes:
Just a heads up that I drove by Lexington Park Condos at Indiana/Cermak yesterday and it appears that while the place is pretty much done, workers are on strike. they were picketing outside. I am unsure if they are building out the commercial space, or if they are still doing residential spaces inside. The tower still looks pretty dark from the outside when I approach it from the west in the evenings.
Anyone know what's going on with this building? Inquiring minds want to know.
(Hat tip to J!)
25 comments:
Apparently, the building went unsupervised for a while during the slow sales months of the Winter. Needless to say a water line froze and broke on one of the higher floors. Leaked for a few days before some one saw it. Damaged a bunch of units that were finished but unoccupied on several floors.
Developer is going to re-do the units and decided on using non-union demolition labor to tear out the bad drywall, carpeting, etc to save a little money. Let's face it, Union labor would be cost twice as much for doing something that is generally unskilled and grunt work.
Even though Walsh (Union General Contractor) will be brought back to re-do the units, the Union is striking against the demo crew.
With the pay/benefit increases and entitlements of Union construction labor continuing to escalate, even in a significant downturn of a market, is it any wonder that more and more Union guys can't find work? Just keep promising the world(i.e. pay raises, huge pensions, unsurpassed medical benefits) and eventually the Union won't be able to afford themselves.
Good day.
Thanks for the info! Very informative.
Kevin - keep us updated.
Just another vacant condo building which will soon turn into rentals and further de-value the area around it.
Took this from an article from Yo chicago 0n 12/31/09:
All quiet at Lexington Park Condominiums
by Joseph Askins on 12/31/09
Its Web site is down, its listings have disappeared, and not a single tower unit has closed. Not the best way for Chieftain Group’s Lexington Park Condominiums to enter the new year.
It’s easy to lose track of Lexington Park, all alone down there at the corner of Indiana and Cermak. It’s practically an afterthought, one of those projects you remember only when catching it out of the corner of your eye while driving down Lake Shore Drive or the Stevenson. But there it is, all but finished, with nary a soul inside. It’s a ghost town in the sky!
According to Cook County records, three soft lofts in an adjoining mid-rise closed this year. Another three lofts are under contract, as are at least 69 of the 300-plus units in the high-rise, or almost $25 million worth of inventory. (It’s not necessarily the bottom line for contracts, however — Crain’s, using Appraisal Research Counselors’ data, reported in June that Lexington Park was 53 percent pre-sold.)
So what’s the hold-up? It’s hard to tell, but I hear from reliable sources that it could be a three-fold situation. One, the tower is still waiting for certificates of occupancy from the city. We’ve heard that most of this year. Two, Chieftain may be trying to negotiate a loan modification in order to convert the tower’s condos to rentals, until which time the company isn’t any hurry to obtain said certificates. Three, the project’s lender, Corus Bank, was seized by the FDIC in September, thereby bogging down that loan modification process.
We’ll keep sniffing around to see what else we can find out. Call me curious…
YOUR ALL WRONG!! YOU NEED MORE RELIABLE INFORMATION. YOU ARE GRASPING FOR ANSWERS THAT YOU WILL NOT GET. YOU DO NOT EVEN HAVE THE GENERAL CONTRACTOR RIGHT..
No one is wrong. Obviously, if things were running smooth, the website would still be up & people who gave earnest money would have a contact person. So, if you have info please provide vs stating that everyone is WRONG ! You are obviously involved somehow either on the Union side, property management or buyer ?
I am currently under contract for one of the units at Lexington Park. The elevator shaft was damaged which caused construction delays. Closings are estimated for Summer/Fall 2010. The building does not have a certificate of occupancy yet.
Closings this summer?! They have been saying that since the summer of 2008. I placed a deposit there in spring of '07, walked through my unit in December of '09 and have not heard a peep from them. Really strange that the building has at the same time been built and vanished. I would like to know how to get my money back.
I just went to the City's Dept of Buildings site for the status of building permits. For Lex Park it shows that all permits have been approved and that was back in '09.
The Sales Office Coordinator is Valerie Hansen 312.842.2202
VHansen@chieftain.ie
She is the one who told me closings would be in Summer/Fall 2010 which of course is way delayed. I hope the building goes rental or bankrupt because I would prefer to get my earnest money back. I have all ready spent $1000.00 in retainer fees for two lawyers and still no luck. The contract is iron clad. If anyone can help, please post here.
The sales manager is no longer with Lexington Park. What's going on with them? Any one? Any one?
This is the law firm representing the Chieftain Group and the Lexington Park Condo project. Brown, Udell, Pomerantz, & Delrahim
http://www.bupdlaw.com/home.asp
Does anyone have any info about the condo?
latest news
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=38366
I also bought a unit in the tower if anybody has any updates could they email me polka.polka@hotmail.com. Would really like to see my deposit again as I am not working now and finding it hard to keep my head above water. Sean
Please write to the Senior VP of STResidential, which now owns Lex Park. John Markowicz jmarkowicz@STResidential.com Demand an answer on the status of the project. This has gone on for way too long and tied up many thousands of dollars per buyer, for years. What a nightmare!
Hi All, here it is in a nutshell. There was a leak 9 months ago at the Lexington park condos. In the contract it mentions that after 9 months after an incident such as this there is an escape route for the purchaser. Here is the catch - you have 10 days to lodge your complaint and to indicate that you want your earnest money returned. That 10 days is starting around now (Aug 05th) so it is time to get the fingers out and to get sound legal advise. Best to get a group together and hit these cowboys in numbers. A read above that you should be emailing the VP (His email is jmarkowicz@stresidential.com above) and it is correct - bombard him daily with emails but keep a record of these emails. He will not reply as I have tried this but at least you will not be accused of not trying to get your money back. This is going to be a slow and painful process but keep persisting and do lodge your wishes for a refund in the next 10 days. Let me have some feedback and good luck to all of us. Rgds, from an Irish concerned investor.
John Markowicz of ST Residential has replied to me. He estimated that the title company will be notifying condo purchasers vie letter "prior" to the end of next week regarding the next steps. Regardless, keep the pressure on to ST Residential and Starwood Capital.
Contact Colleen Callahan at Near North National Title if you want 95% of your earnest money back.
colleen.callahan@nnnt.com Take it up the butt because that is their offer unless you are willing to fight it.
If you haven't gotten contacted yet...I've contacted the VP Markowicz awhile back who informed me to email colleen.callahan@ nnnt.com for my deposit. She emailed me a letter/statement. They will return 95% of the deposit including interests accrued if I sign the statement w/i 30 days.
Despite all this frustation, I still want to move into Lexington. Although I've asked multiple times about the status of the condo (ie move in date/reason for the delay--for ex. the water damage mentioned above/change to rentals?/gov housing?), they haven't responded. Anyone know anything about this?
This is being converted into government housing.
A 35 story, brand new hi-rise with bamboo floors, plasma tv and granite countertops is going to be turned into government housing? What are you smoking?
how do you know?
yeah, i don't think it'll be totally gov housing. i'm just wondering if part of it will (like they're planning at roosevelt collection--luxury condos turned into apts), which means there is no way i'd want to move in
Any updates for this building in 2012? I just moved into another highrise down the street and just noticed that LPC was empty...
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